After joining a variety of other PC makers in producing "Ultrabooks" closely patterned after Apple's MacBook Air, HP has released a new "Spectre One" PC that looks "painfully" like an Apple iMac.

Matthew Panzarino of the NextWebannounced the new HP model with the headline "HP introduces new Apple iMac," calling it "painful to look at" and saying it "looks like absolutely nothing other than a complete clone of Apple?s iMac."

The new HP doesn't have the identical aluminum bezel as Apple's iMac line, but does trade in HP's typical black plastic case for a design that appears to be Apple's Cinema Display.

The world's largest PC company by unit sales even paired its new model with a slim wireless keyboard and trackpad that look identical to the designs Apple first released for the revised aluminum iMac in 2007.

Other media outlets covering the new model appeared careful not to raise any suggestion that HP's latest PC was desperately trying to get some mileage out of the design Apple made famous, but users commenting on those reports pointed out the obvious. Those comments were met by others who insisted that Apple's designs were really the only way to make devices ranging from PCs to tablets to smartphones.

Electronistanoted that HP's new model "that instantly recalls Apple's iMac" is touted for its "Windows 8-rediness" but does not support touchscreen input, relying instead upon trackpad gestures "in another nod to an Apple philosophy."

Nothing is new about copying Apple's designs; the company just sued Samsung over trade dress and design patents for what it called "slavish copying" of its iPhone and iPad. A jury agreed, returning a verdict that included over $1billion in fines and profit return to Apple.

Just over ten years ago, Apple similarly filed for trade dress claims related to its original translucent plastic iMac model, which injected interest into the boring PC industry that had seen little design innovation in more than a decade.

Apple successfully stopped eMachines, Daewoo and other Asian PC makers from selling their iMac copies. Since then, the company has launched relatively few legal actions to protect its Mac designs, apart from a battle with Psystar that successfully stopped the tiny firm from including Apple's OS X software on its "OpeniMac" PCs.

At the same time, however, Apple's close partner Intel has actively stoked imitation among larger PC makers, introducing a Mac mini clone with AOpen based on the chip maker's "reference design" for small PCs in 2005.

Apple has since redesigned the Mac mini to more closely resemble its Apple TV box, but Samsung and Google immediately teamed up to deliver a "Series 3 Chromebox" with the same design, right down to its round lid base.

Last year, Intel launched another "reference design" response to Apple's increasingly successful MacBook line under the brand "Ultrabook," and has spent hundreds of millions to advertise the initiative.

PC makers dutifully turned out a series of MacBook clones in time for Intel to display a half dozen doppelg?ngers at the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show in January, with HP among the companies looking to Apple for design leadership.

But at least include the Vizio model that I mentioned in one of the earlier comment sections. You know, the one that does the exact same thing, ignoring all the earlier hoo-hah about "trackpads on a desktop computer" that the Anti-Apple Brigade loves to whine about.

Next we will see tire companies suing for copying the look of a tire. While I can say sure it has similarities so what. People who buy a MAC do so for the OS X benefits (like I did) and Vizio unveiled what could be seen as copying Apple's products http://www.vizio.com/computing/ but no one complained here.

So if HP has chosen to put the guts on the bottom, the display on top that is different than Apple which puts the guts and display on the top.

The one thing I have yet to see is Apple actually go after blatant violators of trade dress in China. Has anyone actually looked at the products unveiled there which are identical to the iPhone in every way and yet Apple doesn't go after them.

Seriously, it's downright embarrassing. Or at least it should be. These other companies should be ashamed, it's 100% an admission of "we have no ideas, let's use Apple's and see what we can get away with."

the fact that companies copy apples designs so much is embarrassing. how do they look eachother in the face at the boardroom table when someone tries to say "this is our new design"? it must be a disgrace that their "ingenuity" is something employees in Cupertino though up years ago. Its also shameful that they are allowed to sell such blatant ripoffs as original!

It doesn't look much like an iMac. The screen bezel is very different. The pedestal is very different. Even the wireless keyboard isn't much like Apple's. the HP keyboard has silver keys, Apple's keyboard has white keys that are shaped differently. I'm sorry, fanbois, but Apple didn't invent the rectangle.

Next we will see tire companies suing for copying the look of a tire. While I can say sure it has similarities so what. People who buy a MAC do so for the OS X benefits (like I did)

The problem with your analogy is you can't patent something that is necessary to the utility of something. So, for a tire to work it has to be round. You can't patent that. Now you can patent how the rubber is made.

I buy a Mac for both the integrated design of the hardware and the operating system. Apple is a hardware company that uses software and cutting edge design to sell the hardware. It doesn't want other machines looking like its own.

Actually yojimbo007 not everyone likes Mac OS X, yet want a simple all in one PC (personal computer) that looks good. So if they want Windows they to get a Dell tower, no thanks. My wife doesn't care for the OS X interface on her nearly 4 year old iMac and I happen to like my MBP 13".

The simple solution is to find something similar to the iMac that runs windows, or I have to buy the most over loaded iMac I can get so I can run Parallels and Windows which is a hog on resources.

I do agree though if you want a Mac you get a Mac, if you want Windows you get a wider range and variety of configurations and design options, sort of like Android vs iOS. I use an iPad 3, I will be getting the iP5 64GB and will be happy. But not everyone wants iOS they want choices so Android does just that.

It doesn't look much like an iMac. The screen bezel is very different. The pedestal is very different. Even the wireless keyboard isn't much like Apple's. the HP keyboard has silver keys, Apple's keyboard has white keys that are shaped differently. I'm sorry, fanbois, but Apple didn't invent the rectangle.

Computers and phones and tablets have always looked the same. Apple’s products don’t look unique and never did. Anyone using the same designs as Apple would have done so even without Apple, because there’s no other look possible. Clearly...

Mental gymnastics brought to you courtesy of Apple Haters Without a Reason.

Originally Posted by RaptorOO7
Next we will see tire companies suing for copying the look of a tire. While I can say sure it has similarities so what. People who buy a MAC do so for the OS X benefits (like I did) and Vizio unveiled what could be seen as copying Apple's products http://www.vizio.com/computing/ but no one complained here.

Originally Posted by majortom1981
Apple is allowed to copy braun but nobody is allowed to copy apple? That does not make sense.

False equivalency. Apple used inspiration from Braun devices to make gadgets of an entirely different category. Goodyear will not sue me for making donuts with black frosting and knobby edges, because no consumer will confuse donuts with tires. If I market a physical notepad that resembles OS X Mountain Lion's "Notes" app (fullscreen), it is a different type of product; If the designers at Apple and my company both acknowledge the influence as a nice homage (as is the case with Apple and Braun), it is no problem, and no hint of litigation.

HP is making a product in the same category, that is a direct competitor to Apple's product. Average customers can and will be confused by this, as evidenced by the high return rate of tablets and smartphones that resemble Apple's too closely. To say nothing of the disrespect or willful ignorance by HP and ultrabook makers lately.

Originally Posted by ham_bone
the fact that companies copy apples designs so much is embarrassing. how do they look eachother in the face at the boardroom table when someone tries to say "this is our new design"? it must be a disgrace that their "ingenuity" is something employees in Cupertino though up years ago. Its also shameful that they are allowed to sell such blatant ripoffs as original!

That's what you get with a boardroom of old suits who don't take Apple seriously. I am in regular contact with people who refer to their computers as "toys."

I don't ever like to say that someone has blatantly and shameless copied Apple's designs. They are strong allegations. But I really can't see how anyone can deny that these are blatant and shameless copies!

Great point! Kindly point us to Braun's computers and phones so we can take Apple to task. If you could find an article where any designer from Braun complained about Apple as opposed to complementing Apple, that could also be helpful.

Originally Posted by RaptorOO7
Actually yojimbo007 not everyone likes Mac OS X, yet want a simple all in one PC (personal computer) that looks good. So if they want Windows they to get a Dell tower, no thanks. My wife doesn't care for the OS X interface on her nearly 4 year old iMac and I happen to like my MBP 13".
The simple solution is to find something similar to the iMac that runs windows, or I have to buy the most over loaded iMac I can get so I can run Parallels and Windows which is a hog on resources.
I do agree though if you want a Mac you get a Mac, if you want Windows you get a wider range and variety of configurations and design options, sort of like Android vs iOS. I use an iPad 3, I will be getting the iP5 64GB and will be happy. But not everyone wants iOS they want choices so Android does just that.

I follow your logic in regards to consumer choices, but it clearly does not apply to manufacturers, since the "wide range and variety" in the Windows hardware ecosystem is looking increasingly Apple-like. Ultrabooks, all-in-one desktops, HP's magic trackpad that would fool anyone at first glance. Granted, Windows 8 RT has inspired a few crazy new form factors...

But at least include the Vizio model that I mentioned in one of the earlier comment sections. You know, the one that does the exact same thing, ignoring all the earlier hoo-hah about "trackpads on a desktop computer" that the Anti-Apple Brigade loves to whine about.

I saw the Vizio. It is certainly pushing it but I think they changed just enough to avoid looking like a complete knock off. Just my opinion, and that isn't exactly a complement or a defense. I just can't believe how unbelievably bold (in a bad way) HP was. They didn't even try. They didn't make a change worth mentioning. It is such an overt and obvious attempt to copy the design of an iMac that I can't even begin to understand what they were thinking.

Originally Posted by RaptorOO7
The simple solution is to find something similar to the iMac that runs windows, or I have to buy the most over loaded iMac I can get so I can run Parallels and Windows which is a hog on resources.

You can install Windows with Boot Camp. Then at least you don't have the overhead of Parallels. Just about any iMac, even an older one will run Windows.